The state unit of All India Youth Federation (AIYF) has alleged widespread irregularities in the various projects of the forest department. The Joint Secretary of the AIYF state unit, Subhash Dutta, said that there were numerous instances of misappropriation of funds by the department. He made the claim after receiving the details applied for under the Right to Information Act 2005. Dutta stated that Oil India Limited (OIL) gave Rs 36 lakh to the office of the Chief Conservator of Forests as compensation in 2005-06 on behalf of Premier Oil for carrying out oil exploration at Soraipung in Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary. While the department said that the money had been spent on reforestation in the area but a personal visit there showed that no plantation had been carried out, he added. The AIYF office bearer said that Ministry of Environment and Forest allot a certain amount of money to the state forest department to spend on various schemes to help in the livelihood of forest dwellers so that they would not resort to the destruction of trees to eke out their living. He said that the District Forest Officer (DFO) claimed to have spent the money to set up gobar gas plant, dig tubewells and finance piggery and dairy projects in forest villages like Madhupur Deori Gaon and Soraipung. However, an inquiry revealed that the so called beneficiaries had no inkling whatsoever of the so called schemes. Citing another example of the sheer irregularities in the forest department, Dutta said that around Rs 6 lakhs had been sanctioned in 2006-07 to put up solar electric fence around Madhupur Deori Gaon and along two kilometre of Kolakhowa to protect the people from elephant depredation. While the estimate submitted in the office mentioned concrete posts to support the fencing, the forest workers had put it up on branches, which have rotted, he added. So, rampage of wild elephants in the area has started once again. Moreover, the money allotted to the department for reforestation in the area in 2005-06 was shown to have been used for the same scheme, the AIYF leader said. He further said that the MLA of Moran, Jibontara Ghatowar, had recently laid the foundation stone for a similar project which would cost Rs 10 lakh. Dutta went on to say that the families of the persons who were killed by wild elephants in Dibrugarh district had yet to receive the compensation they deserved as per government rules. Rs 4 lakh is given as compensation to the kin of the dead person and Rs 50,000 to a seriously injured person. A family can claim Rs 2500 per bigha of rice field destroyed by wild elephants. The AIYF office bearer said that the family of Maina Moran, the 5 year old child of Lezai Sessa Nagaon under Larua Mouza here who was killed by elephants in 2001, had not yet received the compensation. Neither had the families of the other six persons killed in Lezai Kolakhowa in subsequent years, he added. Moran parents had received just Rs 5000 from the DC of Dibrugarh. Dutta demanded an inquiry be instituted into the various schemes of the forest department and said that it would reveal more anomalies.